by Terry Spear
“Should we take the dogs?”
“Not this time. They need to help Kolby and the other ranch hands with the cattle. The new guys need to learn how to give the dogs commands too, and the dogs need to learn to obey them.”
“Okay.”
After cleaning up from breakfast, they headed out on the appaloosas to ride. Ted was amazed how much Stella loved riding horses, like she'd been born to it when she'd never been around them much.
"I was dying to ride when I was younger, but my adoptive parents were afraid of how the horses would react to us and rear up and injure us, because we smell like cougars. When I was emancipated, I did my one and only trail ride. I loved it, except that the horse kept trying to knock me off his back, and the trail wasn't that interesting. I love how we can go anywhere all over the acreage," Stella said.
"Yeah, and the seasons make it appear different too, so even if you're going to some of the same areas, you'll find flowers or snow or fall colors that make it appear completely different." He hoped Stella was feeling all right as she followed the direct path that she had traveled as a wounded cougar. It even made him feel stressed out, but if she needed to do this for her own peace of mind, they had to do it. He didn't want to ask if she was feeling all right either, if she just had to live in the moment. Instead, he talked to her about other things that were more cheerful, he hoped.
He told her about how Ricky had been turned and how he had turned his brother, and they'd chased each all over the clinic as cougars when they had been recovering from their injuries. "They created all kinds of havoc."
Stella laughed. "I hadn't realized they were more newly turned."
"Yeah, and Ricky turned Mandy by accident. He turned his brother on purpose though. The brothers were close to each other and Kolby had practically raised Ricky, so Ricky couldn't imagine being here among cougars—and we wouldn't let him go because he'd been newly turned—without his brother being a part of the community."
"And Mandy?"
"Oh, she was Ricky’s ex-girlfriend.”
Smiling, Stella raised a brow.
"Mandy ran into him with her car." Then Ted told the rest of the story and Stella laughed.
"Being a cougar has always been kind of a negative thing in my book, so I'm glad that I can hear how being turned can turn out fine, and being what I am, can too."
"Yeah, we have to make do with what we have to work with, but we do that by celebrating what we are, and with so many of us here, we can do that in grand style."
"I'll say."
They finally reached the cliffs and she said, "I didn't realize it was as far as it was to the ranch. I thought it was just because I was trying to keep really low and I wasn't sprinting for safety like I wanted to do."
"It is a long way from the ranch. Those hunters had to travel a long distance to reach it."
"What if they start posting all over the social media sites that they injured a white cougar?"
"We've got more patrols out in this area, checking to make sure we don’t have any hunters about. We would have done it for anyone if any of our cougars had been shot."
"Oh, good." Stella sounded vastly relieved.
"Yeah, we don't take chances when we have issues like this. If someone else had been hit, we could have the same situation—hunters or thrill-seekers searching for the wounded cougar. Even some good Samaritans who might want to rescue it could be searching all over the property. But with the notion we might have a rare white cougar, we could have a lot of different folks coming to check it out for various reasons."
They came around the cliffs and saw a sheriff department’s vehicle parked in the area where Stella had parked her Jeep. Chase was up on the rocks and they looked up to see him waving down at them. "Good day for a climb."
"I want to join him." Stella climbed off her horse. Then she tied her up to a tree branch and Ted did the same with his horse.
It was much easier climbing the cliffs as a cougar, but no one was to go anywhere near here as a cougar right now, just in case hunters figured the cougar, or others, might have marked this as their territory.
They finally made it up to the top and stood there, looking at the majestic surroundings, seeing the horse ranch way off in the distance, but if he hadn't known what they were, he would have had to guess that the horses standing in the pasture were just that. So Stella wouldn't have known it before she raced for the safety of the barn.
"It's beautiful out here. Too bad hunters trespassing on the ranch lands had to spoil it for the rest of us, at least for a while," Chase said.
"I agree," Ted said, "but it's good to take note that we can't let our guard down when it comes to the cougars and other wildlife's safety."
"Right," Stella said. "It's too beautiful and the land needs to be preserved." Then she frowned at Chase. "Has anyone ever tried to grow illegal crops on the property since the Havertons have so much acreage?"
"Yeah, a couple of times. They were thinking the land was untamed, owned, but no one would be the wiser. But with our sense of smell, we can sniff out the illegal plants or stills and take them down quicker than they can put them up or grow their plants. We've caught the marijuana plants in the early stages of growth. The ones who were attempting to grow on the land found it wasn't profitable as much as we were watching for them. Not only that, but we arrested several of the men who came back to check on their plants, and even caught some planting one time. Thankfully, we have an army of law enforcement officials who can take them down."
"Even with legalizing pot in Colorado, they still plant illegally?"
"Yep. It has to do with the 'free' land to grow on and avoiding regulations and taxation. We haven't had any issues in the last couple of years, though we check out the acreage and others like it that the cougars own regularly," Chase said.
Which was another good reason to have his and Stella’s home built in another area of the land—to help show there were too many eyes on the property for other illegal activities to take place, Ted thought.
Chapter 15
Stella was so glad to see Chase out checking the area for illegal hunters or for anyone else who might be "sightseeing" for cougars.
And she was grateful to Ted for not trying to talk her out of coming here to see where she'd been shot and just, she didn't know, get it out of her system, she supposed.
She gave Ted a hug and thanked Chase and the others who were trying to keep the cougars safe.
"You're doing it also, just by being here, by riding the range with Ted, keeping a look out to see who all might be trespassing. With a presence in the area, it makes it harder for these varmints to be sneaky as far as illegal activities go," Chase said.
Then they said their goodbyes and Stella and Ted made their way down to the bottom of the cliffs. She slipped a couple of times, but Ted was right there to catch her, which she so appreciated. "I'm not used to wearing cowgirl boots to climb in."
"Yeah, cougar paws work the best, or hiking boots, but when you wear the cowboy boots as much as I do, it becomes second nature, and you can accommodate for any terrain." He helped her up on her horse. Then they rode off, but she waved back at Chase who was looking the area over using binoculars and he waved goodbye to them also.
"I feel better coming out to see this. Thanks for taking me."
"You're welcome. I wasn't sure if I could do that if I'd been shot there so recently, but I’m glad you feel better about it after seeing it could be safe," Ted said.
"I think seeing Chase up there helped and knowing that a lot of people, even me, in fact, are helping to keep it safe. That makes me feel good too. I think being a victim is awful unless you can take a stand and fight back. So in a peaceful way, it's a way to take action and stop the bad stuff from happening in the first place."
"I couldn't agree with you more.”
Chase called out, “Hey, wait!”
"Did you spot any trouble out here?" Ted asked Chase.
"I thought I saw someone on
the property off in that direction. I didn't see any vehicles parked along the road though—"
"I'll go check it out," Ted said.
"I could go with you," Chase said. "Stella can stay here to keep an eye out."
"I'd like to go with you," Stella said.
"If they're more hunters and they’re afraid of getting locked up like the other guys?" Ted asked. "I don't want to risk you getting shot again."
"All right. Just be careful."
Ted knew Stella wanted to go with him, but he truly was worried about finding more hunters.
Chase and Ted mounted the horses down below, while Stella climbed up to the top of the cliffs with the pair of binoculars. He figured she would be perfectly safe while he and Chase confronted trespassers, if there were any.
They headed out across the pastureland, taking deep breaths of the air, trying to smell any scents of human activity in the area, watching for any sign of movement. They'd ridden for maybe a mile when he and Chase saw two men scramble into the woods, seeking cover beyond a creek.
He and Chase headed across the creek to apprehend the trespassers. Both had rifles, but the scent they left behind didn't smell like the other hunters' scents.
"Not them," Chase said.
"Nope. I'm hoping they're not here because of the others though."
They rode through the woods, following the scents of the men—scared, tense, sweaty from the long hike from wherever they'd come from. If Chase hadn't found any vehicle nearby, Ted wondered if the men had been dropped off to hunt, thinking no one would be the wiser.
They could hear them up ahead, crashing through the underbrush, breaking twigs in their path, typical of men fleeing from danger, not realizing the cougars could hear them now, even though they weren't really close yet. Then they saw one of the men duck behind a rock, while the other continued to run. A ploy?
Or it was an ambush? Ted veered off to ride behind the boulders while Chase headed around to the other side, the two of them in sync as far as pinning the hunter down. They'd catch up with the other hunter as soon as they handcuffed this guy.
As soon as they had both skirted around the boulders, they found the man had run off, yet they discovered where he had been lying in wait. He would have heard the two appaloosas’ footfalls coming around either side of the boulders and must have made the decision to hightail it out of there. Ted was thinking that the hunter had thought they would continue to chase after his buddy, and wouldn't look for him behind the boulder, but the hunters didn't know the cougars' keen sense of smell had been his downfall.
They saw the hunter in question duck around some more boulders and Chase and Ted galloped after him. Chase called out, "I'm Deputy Sheriff Chase Buchanan! Come out with your hands up or we'll be forced to take more extreme measures!"
The guy didn't move. Or maybe he was trying to crawl around the rocks and out of there. The only reason Chase had called out a warning to the hunter was because they couldn't take the horses where the hunter had gone. Smart move on his part.
Suddenly, a bear roared.
Holy hell! If it was one of the bear shifters they had encountered this summer, the bear could be at real risk. A hunter wouldn't hesitate to shoot it, saying his life was endangered, even if he was trespassing on private property and illegally hunting.
"If you shoot the bear, we shoot you," Chase called out, neither of them able to see the bear, but they were both off their horses, tying them to a tree, and rushing up the boulders as fast as humanly possible.
It was times like these that Ted wished he were a cougar about now.
He crested the top of the rock and saw the big black bear watching the hunter and recognized him at once as being the bear that went by the name of Blue.
The bear shifters were welcome on the ranch as bears or otherwise, hopefully free from being shot by hunters, but in this case, he was liable to be killed.
"Put your rifle down, right this minute," Ted shouted to the man. "He's a pet bear. You kill him, we'll have you up on so many charges, you'll never get out of jail." Not that they could charge the hunter with that much, but he had to make him believe they could.
The hunter looked terrified, and he definitely didn't want to put down the rifle.
"Blue, go, thanks for catching the hunter for us. Go eat some berries."
The bear grunted and headed off toward the waterfall.
"Now put down the damn rifle," Chase said, flashing his badge. "Unless you aim to resist arrest or shoot an officer. I'm sure having attempted murder on your record won't help you much. And going to prison? Well, you might even miss the wife."
Ted noticed the man was wearing a gold wedding band then.
"What's your name and your friend's name and how come you are here, trespassing on private property?" Chase was still waiting for the hunter to comply. "Don't tell us you didn't see the signs or climb barbed-wire fence to trespass either."
He finally gave his name. "I was alone."
"We'll find the other hunter, rest assured," Ted said, but the guy wasn’t putting his rifle down. Ted had had enough. He didn't want to leave Stella on her own for too long. He pulled off the rope he had strapped to his saddle and lassoed the guy, surprising the hell out of him and he screamed out.
The hunter dropped his rifle and Ted noticed then that the bear had turned to watch the situation just in case he was needed. But they didn't need him to help out, and Ted hoped that the hunter wouldn't tell the world that a pet bear lived on the ranch!
Still, Ted had had to say something that would protect the bear.
Chase handcuffed the man. "We should leave him behind and track the other hunter who had been with him. Great job with the lasso, Ted."
“I never thought I’d have to use it on a hunter.”
"No, no, you can't leave me. What if the white cougar comes for me? Or the bear? He doesn't like me, only you. I wouldn't have any way to protect myself," the hunter said.
"Like they have no way to protect themselves when you illegally hunt them on private property?" Ted asked.
"You can't leave me here," the man insisted. "If they killed me, it would be on your head."
Ted and Chase only smiled at that.
"You can't!"
Chase and Ted reluctantly helped him get down from the boulders. Ted shouldered the man's rifle and his own. Ted still wished they could have left the hunter behind and returned for him. Maybe he'd think twice about trespassing here then.
"You weren't so scared before when you were eager to kill on the ranch land," Ted said as Chase mounted Celestina, and Ted helped the man onto the horse. Then Ted mounted Pablo and they headed out at a gallop to track the other hunter through the woods.
"How did you learn about the white cougar?" Ted asked. Their own local newspaper hadn't reported on it, and he hadn't heard that anyone else had seen anything on it. Which made him suspect Sims and his buddies had mentioned it to these two men. "We'll find out sooner or later. We might even be able to connect you with Sims and his buddies who shot a woman at the ranch."
Chase nodded. "Yeah." He gave the man his Miranda rights because they had to do what was right as far as following the laws and due process and all that.
"I have a baby due in three weeks," the man sullenly said.
"And that has what to do with anything?" Chase asked. "You want to be there for the delivery instead of sitting inside a jail cell? You should have thought of that beforehand."
"Hell, man, a kid costs a lot of money."
"I have twins, tell me about it," Chase said. "It still doesn't tell us why you're illegally trespassing and hunting and risking getting yourself shot on private property."
The man left out his breath. "I know Sims, okay? He said if my friend and I could find the white cougar and take pictures of it—"
"With hunting rifles," Ted said.
"Well, hell, Sims said they shot it. So yeah, we had to bring hunting rifles in case we ran into a wounded cougar. Look at the bear that n
early attacked me."
"Pet bear, and he has been in several movies," Chase said. "I can't imagine you would want to tell the media how you had killed a beloved bear that was a film star."
Ted wanted to laugh. "Just think if your baby son or daughter—"
"Son," the hunter volunteered.
"Son," Ted continued, "learned someday that you killed the bear featured in their favorite movie."
Though Ted suspected the hunter would teach his son to hunt someday and a bear was a bear, wild and free to shoot.
"If I tell you what I know, will I get off easier?" the hunter asked.
"It depends on what you know," Chase said.
"Sims paid Fenton and me to kill the cougar, if it was still alive, to put it out of its misery. You know. A good deed. No hunter ever wants to make an animal suffer. He sent us after he told us what had happened. He said they tracked the blood all the way to the ranch so they know they hit it. And they knew it had to have been at the ranch."
"And they shot up the ranch, the barn, without going inside to find the supposed cougar?" Chase snorted. "How many years have you been hunting, man?"
"Thirty, since I was fifteen."
"And how many times have you heard of a white cougar?" Chase asked.
"Never. But we looked it up and there had been a trail-camera sighting of a rare young male in Brazil."
"And how far is that from here?" Chase asked.
"I’m not saying it's the same one, but that it's possible for them to exist."
They got quiet then and Chase and Ted smelled where the other man had run. They walked the horses through the woods, listening to the twittering of a couple of cardinals, male and female, and heard something rustling around in the underbrush—a rabbit, that took off lickety-split.
The other man's scent stopped, turned, and they headed in another direction.
They continued to walk the horses in silence, listening, taking deep breaths, watching for any signs of the other hunter. Ted suspected he would head for the main road and call for a pick up, but he was headed in the wrong direction. Had he believed they would head there too and arrest him? Or had the darn fool gotten himself lost?